16:8 and Menopausal - worth a try?

[SadlyACupOfTeaDoesNotSolveEverything]

After a summer of self loathing I have decided to try 16:8 intermittent fasting to see if I can finally start to improve my gut health, lose weight and embrace my impending 40’s.

Thanks to chronically early menopause (peri at 34 and menopausal at 36) I feel frumpy, sore, lethargic and know full well my weight isn’t exactly helping the situation.

On Sunday morning I weighed in at a frightening 228lbs and had a good cry in the bathroom. When I got myself together I opened up my fitness plan, put in the data and looked into IF. Since then I have aimed for 1500kcal a day consisting of two meals, one or two snacks and one oat milk flat white - all between 12noon and 8pm.

Has anyone else found success doing this or if you too feel the same so you fancy joining together to share recipes, tips and help motivate each other?

Fasting works for me, I have to watch my calories in my window too, as well as exercise regularly and drop out the carbs, but that's the joys of menopause now unfortunately 🙄😂

I do 12-8 too.

Cannot comment on menopause but I loved 16:8 when I did it. I lost weight and felt better than I ever had. I think it's definitely worth trying. I used an app Fastic and I loved it. It would count have time for me and give me information what was happening at x hour mark in body which I found motivating.

Doesn't add up to 24.
12 hours fasting, 8 hours eating? What about the other 4 hours?

It means she only eats between 12pm and 8pm then fasts for the next 16 hours.

No, I eat between 12pm and 8pm.

Morning, so nice to hear from other people in similar boats!

@SheRaaaaa isn’t it just? It so frustrating but I can’t be 40 and feel 60 any longer so time to take some control. I definitely need to watch calories and have been tracking them since Sunday, I am trying to be mindful of carbs too.

I will look at the app, thanks @Olika. @JudyEdithPerry I have looked at the Zoe nutrition site and feel like I want to give it a basic try for a while before sinking more money into something I don’t use. I can’t decide if it’s just the way I am or a menopausal thing again but I feel like I have wasted money on blocks of classes I didn’t like, skincare to find one I finally got along with after years of being fine, I buy clothes constantly to ‘look better’(but don’t) and the hair removal for my newly acquired goatee alone would make you cry.
So essentially it’s time to invest in my health but I need to make sure it’s the right fit for me first.

@husbandcallsmepickle yes @canyon2000 is correct, I’m doing 16:8 IF so fasting 8pm to 12noon. I think the 12-8pm window is going well so far, for the first time today I woke up with a rumbling tummy, I think my body had forgotten it’s ok to not feel full constantly, as embarrassing as that may sound.

May I ask why you stopped?

@pacifictime I got pregnant. That's why I actually started the 16:8 as I was obese and needed to reset my body. It worked as I got pregnant two months later. I will return to 16:8 soon once my daughter is a bit older and I get better sleep. 16:8 gave me unbelievable energy boost. I was buzzing every day and I could tell it was influencing my body positively.

Fasting is fantastic. I regularly used to do 3 day fasts and even felt so great I carried on to 7 days a couple of times. I gave that up though as I couldn't do my bootcamp classes while fasting like that.

I've been back on 16:8 since monday, dropped carbs and am watching my calories and feel tons better, I've even lost a ton of water/carb weight already. I ate everything that would be temptation over the weekend and was 14st 10 on monday, was 14st 6 on the friday, then was 14st 4 this morning. I can feel the inflammation leaving my body, as wanky as that sounds. I've upped my fluids considerably too, 3l water and about 5 cups of tea a day (only one has milk, the first one of the day is a proper cup of tea and then the rest are flavoured/green/fruit so no milk.

I started going through menopause at 51, had various problems getting a HRT that suits, and I need it unfortunately for life as I have vaginal atrophy (sore dry vagina) that needs the estrogen.

Two years into it I suddenly put on weight, nothing had changed in my routine, I’m not a big eater anyway so was shocked. I can’t ramp up the exercise as I have M.S so I too tried the 16:8 diet and it’s brilliant. It doesn’t mean you can eat what you want in those 8 hours, but it works. I find it refreshing for my stomach to actually rumble, I think we’re so conditioned to eating meals even if we don’t actually need it.

I saw a comparison the other day of the size of a portion in the seventies, hardly anyone was overweight then, it was quite shocking how much portion size has increased, this is also one of the problems.

It seems to be working for me. I'm 58, post menopause. I do 15:9 or 16:8 most days. I'm vegetarian, eating most plant-based and mindful of avoiding UPFs as much as possible.

I started properly exercising and trying to lose weight in April, and began IF in June. I've gone from 12 stone 2 lbs, to 10 stone 4 lbs, with another half to a stone to lose. I'm very pleased with IF so far.

I'm also using Pahla B's exercise videos, on YouTube. She has several series of workouts for over 50s women, designed to work with menopause weight gain. I really like her - she's very chatty and motivational.

Am interested in 1970s portion sizes
Also there were fewer snacks then.I feel like you wouldn't have eaten in the street the way we do now

Yes it absolutely works. I started off with a week at 14:10 to ease myself in then went to 16:8 and eventually 18:6. The only thing that works for me

I was a child in the 1970s and agree portion sizes were smaller then. There weren't the huge range of snacks available.

Our nearest McDonalds was in London and was a special treat to go there. Cafés weren't really a thing, you didn't see people with takeaway coffees and eating food in the street. In fact my late mum always said that eating in the street was "common," and yet we all do it now and don't think anything of it. Food is too readily available at all times outside of regular mealtimes. I was always told as a child not to eat snacks between meals because it would spoil my appetite. Again, something we're all doing now.

IF is a way, imo, of getting back to the old ways of eating meals without snacking in between. If you eat enough at each meal then you're full up and don't need snacks. That's the theory, anyway (from the person who went to Starbucks today).

Great to hear lots of positive stories!

I agree we are all too used to eating what we want because we want it/it’s there etc. I have been too quick to declare I can’t loose weight thanks to menopause but somehow overloading my ‘treat yourself’ mentally every other day 🫣.

Day five complete and so far so good. Will weigh myself on Sunday morning.

Can I ask what others are doing about alcohol? I have went for specific occasions only to try and avoid my inevitable need to snack after a glass of wine 😳.

I rarely drink alcohol now, because it just makes me so tired and headachy. I do still like a glass of wine if we're going out to dinner though.

It helps that DH doesn't drink alcohol at all, and never has, so we don't buy any regularly.

Check out Mindy Pelz "Fast Like a Girl". Or listen to one of the several podcasts she's spoken on. TLDR is don't just do same fast every day but flex according to your cycle.

I don’t drink a lot, and can happily go without too so that helps. We are going to a friends for dinner tonight, I plan to take the car.

I find alcohol just leaves me so sluggish for 48hrs afterwards these days.

Thanks @nevynevster, I will go investigate.

First week complete and I have lost 6.5lbs - most of which will be water weight. I am pleased none the less and plan to spend my afternoon reading up on IF schedules with a coffee.

I really need this thread! Am 52, started peri symptoms probably at 51, mainly anxiety and brain fog. Started HRT (patches ) around 10 weeks ago and I feel like I’m expanding by the day. Can’t cope. Have always been apple shaped but dear God I’m awful 😞

Welcome @Pinkshoes71, I think having somewhere to chat, encourage, moan etc will be beneficial all round.

Menopause can be brutal, and I don’t exaggerate when I say no amount of dieting, exercising or wishing has shifted a single lb until this week. I’m hoping it’s the start of a change for the better because I had gained over 30lbs and I was overweight pre menopause too so I have just shy of 100lbs to lose. What a daunting thought.